opinions wanted

[Anonymous]

I am starting to assemble my layout and have covered the entire surface with homasote type material I was fortunate enough to have aquired some years back. My question is , since the entire surface has been covered with this material (its 1/2 inch thick) do I need to put down additional cork roadbed and if so , why? Thanks!!

[thirdrail1]

If you will observe real railroad track, you will see that the ballasted trackage ALWAYS is higher than the ground on either side of it for drainage purposes, so the cork roadbed makes the track look prototypical, unless you're modeling very badly maintained yard or industrial trackage.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind, Jimmyb, that there are commercially available alternatives to cork roadbed. I'm not pushing foam or whatever roadbed over cork, just saying that cork isn;t your only choice.
Bill K

[Anonymous]

Jimmyb - Don't forget there are commercially available alternatives to cork roadbed. I'm not pushing foam or whatever over cork, just letting you know that you have a choice.
Bill K

[Anonymous]

I don't know why I replied to this twice!

[Anonymous]

You probably had the hiccups Bill. That`s okay,I repeat myself sometimes if I can even remember what I just said at all! Gerald

[greendiamond]

There is a company called Homabed which advertises in Model Railroader which sells this type of raised roadbed made out of homasote. Another alternative to cork.

Mike

[Anonymous]

I think someone already touched on this, but you can do it both ways.
Use the cork (or alternative) on your mainlines, & lay your sidings & spurs directly on the sub-roadbed. Having different type tracks at different grade levels looks more realistic.
You can take this a step further, & use cinders, or dirt to ballast the lesser used track.

[BR60103]

Jim:
A) You don't need to. The track goues down perfectly well on the Homasote.
B) The track will look a lot better if you do raise it slightly. The prototype does this for drainage purposes.
C) On my current layout I went for the flat style. I was planning to cut the Homasote at 45 degrees just beyond the tracks but I never did. On my previous layout, I cut the homasote sheet into roadbed segments and attached the scenery below this. I think you should consider one of these rather than going to the extra expense of cork roadbed. In yards, you don't need to model drainage between tracks.

You might be able to get away with carving ditches alongside the tracks.

David